Around Town

Santa Monica's Farmers' Markets are known for their rich bounties of vegetables, baskets of freshly cut flowers, live music, breads, cheeses, and delicious food samplings and the markets are open rain or shine for your convenience.

In the Middle Ages, gift exchange helped people define their relationships to family and friends, to acquaintances and strangers, to God and to church. This exhibition, drawn from the Museum's permanent collection, examines models for giving found in scripture and in the lives of the saints, explores how gift giving functioned in medieval society, and highlights the special role of the medieval book as a gift. December 16 – March 15.

Over 180 ancient glass objects from the collection of Erwin Oppenländer are featured in this exhibition. The Oppenländer collection, which the Getty acquired in 2003, is remarkable for its cultural and chronological breadth. It includes works made in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Greek world, and the Roman Empire, and spans the entire period of ancient glass production, from its origins in Mesopotamia in about 2500 B.C. to Byzantine and Islamic glass of the eleventh century A.D.. This ongoing exhibit begins October 8.

Dudamel and the Phil perform a program steeped in nostalgia even as it gazes into the future: City Noir and the "New World" Symphony – indelibly American in outlook and inspiration. Come for two expressions of the American experience, including Dudamel’s fresh approach to the beloved “New World” Symphony. March 12 & 13, 2015.

Drawn entirely from the premier collection of The New-York Historical Society, "Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School" features forty-five outstanding American landscape paintings from the nineteenth-century. Among the artists represented in the exhibition are the heroes of the American landscape movement: Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, and Albert Bierstadt, among others. Through June 7, 2015.

The efforts of MOCA’s Acquisition & Collection, Photography, and Drawings committees, as well as those of many generous individuals and institutions, have enabled the museum to cultivate one of the premier collections of contemporary art in the United States.

Back by “Popular” demand. Variety calls WICKED "a cultural phenomenon!" Winner of over 100 international awards, including a Grammy and three Tony Awards, WICKED is “Broadway’s biggest blockbuster” (The New York Times). December 10 - March 15.

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La Dolce Dolce Vita at One Pico

The exquisite flavors and sophistication of the Amalfi Coast descend upon Shutters on the Beach February 19th to the 26th courtesy of guest hotel owners and executive chef of Le Sirenuse from Positano, Italy.

If there is one thing the Italians know about, it is how to live. The credo la dolce vita resounds in every corner of the Italian history and culture, and is perhaps most famously perfected in its well-loved cuisine. Le Sirenuse hotel takes a guest turn in One Pico’s kitchen, bringing its Michelin starred Chef Matteo Temperini to indulge us with the wonders of the Mediterranean through his creations.

Nestled above the coast in Positano, overlooking the Mediterranean, Le Sirenuse is a luxurious summer palazzo turned into dreamy hideaway, owned and run by the noble Neapolitan family Marchese Sersale. The soft Mediterranean breezes, strumming mandolin players, and the best restaurant in Positano on Le Sirenuse’s candlelit terrace, and postcard perfect views bring back guests again and again.

It’s no wonder that one of the most lauded romantic dining spots in Italy is a perfect complement to our sunshine coast’s One Pico at Shutters on the Beach. One Pico’s intimate, but lux and modern decor and top flight Mediterranean inspired cuisine has made it the staple for romantic dining throughout all of Los Angeles.

Tuscan-born Chef Matteo Temperini honed his skills in Michelin-starred kitchens from Paris to New York. His training with the world’s most talented chefs like Alain Duchasse in Paris to Alfonso Iaccarino in Macao had him on a global journey before he joined Le Sirenuse in 2008 and lead the restaurant to its first Michelin star in 2012.

Executive Chef Sven Mede, originally from Germany, has also spent time training all over the world including time with Michael Mina and Charlie Trotter in Las Vegas and Chicago. He earned the Star Chef “Rising Star” award in 2005 and since trained in several Michelin-starred and James Beard Award-winning restaurants before joining the By the Blue Sea restaurant group in 2012.

The menu Chef Temperini has chosen for One Pico will have you hoping you have room for an 8-course dinner complete with a digestivo of house-made limoncello. Chef Temperini’s adept dishes bring out what is sublime about the Italian coastal cuisine. He crafts rich and robust flavors with perfectly prepared seafood, and then lends each dish just the right amount of acidity.

It’s nearly impossible to recommend one dish over another, but the gamberoni rossi Siciliani (Sicilian-style prawns) is a star dish out in Positano that one would be foolish to pass up here for zero amount of air travel. For lighter fare, Temperini pairs flakey cod with citrus caviar, and a very rare creamy buffalo milk yoghurt with almonds. For more substantial fare, make sure to sample dishes like the lombata di vitello (roast veal) which pairs the classic flavors of veal, capers, and anchovies together. Truffle lovers will delight tortelli con tartufo nero (tortelli with black truffles) which comes with a sauce with the condensed flavors of beef, truffles with a parmesan fondue.

For those who prefer their Mediterranean flavors with a fresh New Californian twist, Executive Chef Sven Mede presents his own inspired dishes alongside Chef Temperini with a playful bent towards the Italy. Vegetarians will love Chef Mede’s roasted cauliflower soup served with a black truffle brioche, and the meaty George’s bank swordfish atop crispy polenta riffs off southern Italian flavors by combining sweet Cipollioni onions, the sharp dark flavor of black olives, and the tang of blood oranges.

The special Le Sirenuse menu will only last for the week of February 19th through the 26th, so make sure to book your table well in advance, as the Amalfi coast has never been closer.

Pop Up Shop

Co-owner Carla Sersale will present Emporio Sirenuse hosted in Shutters’s lounge near The Cottage gift shop. Curated with penchant for the artisanal, Emporio Sirenuse brings specially commissioned designed clothing, accessories, and home goods. Fine merino scarves in bright colors, hand embroidered cushions, are just a sampling of the purchasable items to bring a little Italian savoir fare into your home or wardrobe.